Unlike most other National Parks which are established to protect
a unique resource and/or region, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is
a memorial to a man. It does protect some of the North Dakota
Badlands, but it was the only park ever to be dedicated a National
Memorial Park in America.

It's not within the purview of this web page to cite Theodore Roosevelt's
life, but here's the short version in relation to his park.

It's reported that in September 1883, Theodore Roosevelt visited the Badlands in the Dakota
Territories by the Little Missouri River, to shoot himself a Buffalo before
the species disappeared. (Technically a bison, but in the 1800's,
they were buffalo.) Not only did he get his buffalo, but he also became
enamored with the rugged lifestyle of the West. He invested $14,000 with
the Maltese Cross Ranch, an already established ranch in the area before returning
home.

Five months later, in February 1884, TR lost both his wife and his mother
within hours of one another, and moved to the Maltese Cross Ranch
to bury his sorrows. The shrill, nearsighted Easterner who spoke funny, became
a cattleman, and by that summer had started a second ranch, The Elkhorn Ranch,
about 40 miles North of Maltese Cross.

It was the Dakota Badlands that shaped TR's policies later when President.

After his death, the badlands were scouted for possible park sites,
and in 1934 the CCC (The Civilian Conservation Corps) arrived to build roads
and other infrastructure in what was called (in 1935) the
"Roosevelt Recreation Demonstration Area". (Today, it is the North and South
Units of the park.)

In 1946, it became the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge, under the
US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park was established by the
Truman Administration in April 1947.

It became Theodore Roosevelt National Park in 1978, with a final size of 30,000
acres, in three units: The North, South, and Elkhorn Ranch units.

I haven't been to the Elkhorn Ranch Unit, the actual site of TR's
second ranch. It's not generally open to the public except by
appointment. (At least the last time I was there. And don't
forget the need for a high-clearance vehicle to navigate the roads.)
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In geologic terms, the land around here can probably be accurately described
as a very loose aggregate. It is a combination of sea-floor bottom, debris from
the erosion of both the Ancestral Rockies and the current Rocky Mountains,
as well as volcanic ash from the various volcanoes to the West in Washington, Oregon,
Idaho and Montana. That means the land is generally loose and easily eroded.

Interestingly enough, the badlands here might not have been the work of the
current Little Missouri River, but of a more ancient one. Also of note, the
river here once flowed into Hudson Bay, a consequence of a long gone North-South
inland sea that cut North America in two. The Ice Age glaciers blocked all
of the North flowing rivers long enough for new river channels to be cut
toward the East, into (now) the Missouri then Mississippi Rivers.
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I've been to Theodore Roosevelt National Park three times.

Thousands of grasshoppers died in the execution of my 1996 vacation...

The first time was in 1996
on my way to drive parts the Montanabahn before it disappeared.
We spent an afternoon at the North Unit, sunset at Painted Canyon,
the night in Medora, and the next morning in the South Unit.
Medora is a convenient town with all the tourist stuff you'd
want (motel, food, gift shops, gasoline, etc.), just outside the
South Entrance. It was my first time in any sort of Western Badlands,
my first visit to a National Park in the West, and my first
grasshopper plague.

The second was in
2001 on my way to
Glacier National Park. We stopped at Painted Canyon (before the
Visitor's Center as open), and the South Unit. We were going to
do the entire South Loop, but most of it was closed for maintenance.
sniff. It was a crappy overcast day anyway...

The third time was in 2006,
on my way to the Pacific Northwest. I stopped in at Painted Canyon,
and went in the South Unit as far as the Visitor's center, where I got a
tour of the Maltese Cross Cabin. It was an abbreviated stay, I was on a
speed run from Fort Mandan (near Bismarck) to as far West as I could go that
day, with another short stop at Salem Sue, the world's largest Holstein Cow.
(And yes, you read that correctly.)
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Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit

North Unit

The North Unit is around 50 miles North of the South Unit (and I-94), accessible from/by US-85.
It was here that I learned that a name of a city on a map in the West could just be a
couple of buildings, but the area is so isolated that it becomes enough of a landmark
to make it a named place on a map...

US-85 is a unremarkable road until it nears the Little Missouri River. You start
to get a couple of hints you're close, then the road enters the Badlands with their
multi-hued layers, changing the characteristic of the entire landscape.

Entrance to River Bend

I think the main problem with the North Unit, is the 100 mile
round trip from the South Unit. And we're not talking an interesting
100 miles, it's mostly arrow straight road through the grasslands.

Another problem is the Scenic Drive within the park is not a loop. So
you have to leave the park the same way you came in. We compromised
by visiting the pull-offs on the right on the way in, then on the way out.
But that's a minor complaint, and I think I've been successful in
re-collating the images from the Entrance to end of the road.

Anyway, those things aside, I think the North Unit is a bit more scenic
than the South, with the added blue hues of the Bentonitic Clay layers.

Bentonitic Clay to Oxbow

The entire North Unit is situated where the glaciers of the last
Ice Age stopped advancing South, and you can find boulders here
(called "erratics") from bedrock 400 miles to the North that were
picked up and transported on the ice, then deposited here when the ice melted.

This is also where the glaciers blocked the channel of the Little Missouri
River, forcing it to turn East toward the Missouri (and eventually the
Mississippi) River rather than Hudson Bay.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Painted Canyon / South Unit

South Unit. This map was downloaded from the NPS site.

Painted Canyon is actually a part of the South Unit, but has its
own Visitor's Center because it actually doubles as a rest area on
I-94. (I-94 actually defines most of the southern boundary of the park.)

It showcases a view of the Badlands not seen from the Scenic
Loop and probably gets thousands of visitors the rest of the park
never sees, mostly because it's right off the Interstate and it
has bathrooms. :-)
If you're passing by on I-94, it's a no-brainer
to stop by and take look, since the viewpoints are steps away from the
parking area.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South Unit

South Unit Entry Sign...

While Painted Canyon is almost right on I-94, the town of Medora and the
main South Unit entrance to the park isn't that far from the interstate either.
The almost frontage road that leads to Medora both starts and ends at I-94.
(The road is around 3 miles long.)
Just remember that after doing sub-light speeds in much of the nothingness
along I-94 in Western North Dakota and/or Eastern Montana, there is a speed
limit in town.

Medora was your typical tourist town (which isn't an insult or put-down,
it's just their main business is the tourist trade), with a focus on
Theodore Roosevelt. It was pretty empty every time I was there, but the
two times I spent the most time there, was past Labor Day.

Just outside the Medora Visitor Center, is TR's Maltese Cross Cabin.
It was relocated in 1957 from the ranch some 6 miles South of the park.
It's pretty tiny, with three rooms (a kitchen, a living room / den, and a
bedroom. There are daily tours, but I was never there during one of those
times. However in 2006, a private tour group came through and the Rangers
opened the cabin for them, so I became an interloper just went on through
with the group. (The Ranger didn't mind, but the people in the group looked
at me like they didn't recognize me. Bwahahahaha...)

Many of the things in the cabin (the dresser, bed, trunk, desk, etc.) were actually
owned/used by TR. The interior was too small for my still camera, but had a
wide-angle adapter on my camcorder so I shot video. The interior stills below are
actually frame grabs from that video.

If you're travelling the I-94 corridor through the region,
it's worth the time to stop in (at least the South Unit)
and tour the park. If you have another half-day, the North
Unit is worth a visit, but if I'm honest, I'll say that half-day
might be better spent at your destination should you be going to
Yellowstone, Glacier, Olympic, etc.